IRS spends millions to upgrade to outdated version of Windows

If you were a half-dozen years behind on your taxes, Uncle Sam would almost certainly be knocking at the door. But at the Internal Revenue Service, millions of dollars are still being spent to upgrade computers to the 6-year-old Windows 7 operating system, which is two generations outdated.

The long-overdue upgrades are leaving fiscal watchdogs scratching their heads and have security specialists worried about vulnerabilities to hackers.

Windows 7 was introduced to the market in October 2009, and the IRSdidn’t begin upgrading until 2011. After four years and nearly $140 million, the IRS still had not upgraded thousands of Windows XP computers to the already outdated Windows 7 operating system by their “end of life” deadlines, according to a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

In all, the IRS had 110,000 workstations to upgrade from Windows XP and 6,000 servers to upgrade from Windows Server 2003, but according to the report, the IRS had not accounted for the location or migration status of approximately 1,300 workstations and upgraded only about half of its Windows servers from the 2003 software version to Windows 7.

Now, the “new” operating system required for IRS computers is 6 years old and the XP system is no longer supported by Microsoft, leaving taxpayers’ information vulnerable, the watchdog warned. Since the upgrades began, Microsoft has issued two newer generations of its operating software, Windows 8 in August 2012 and Windows 10 this year.

“When an operating system reaches its end of life, companies such as Microsoft stop supporting the operating system, which leaves the systems vulnerable to attack. For the IRS, the use of outdated operating systems may expose taxpayer information to unauthorized disclosure, which can lead to identity theft,” auditors wrote. “Further, network disruptions and security breaches may prevent the IRS from performing vital taxpayer services, such as processing tax returns, issuing refunds, and answering taxpayer inquiries.”

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